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We take a lot of photos and we thought it might be fun to share a photo from our garden or travels each day. Rather than share these on our exotic garden blog Alternative Eden we thought it would be good to start a new site dedicated to these photos. The photos we share will sometimes be from the days events but sometimes will relate to our thoughts or particular memories.

We will try to share a photo from our garden or from our travels each day, although sometimes life can get rather hectic so please forgive us if we miss a day here or there.

If you want to ask us about the photos please click on the date under each one to access the comments section.

Work is continuing on our Koi Pond project, we are now putting the pergola up over the top which will be covered over. This will provide shade for the pond and prevent algae making the water green - after all we want to be able to see the fish so clear water is important - and also will provide privacy for us from neighbouring houses (and vice versa of course). We are using gray shaded polycarbonate sheets to create the roof.

Knarled old oak tree in the grounds of Chenies Manor, Buckinghamshire. We attended the Plant Fair on Sunday, and spotted one stall holder made use of the hollow by standing a number of lavender plants as a temporary display.

The delightful grounds and gardens of Chenies Manor, with the house as an impressive backdrop, make an ideal location for the annual Plant and Garden Fair. This event has grown in size and reputation over the past 13 years to become one of the largest one day plant fairs. We arrived early and had to queue up to get in, the car parks were pretty much full by the time the event opened, as always we came home with a few new and interesting plants.

As its Friday the 13th, I did think about selecting a gardening horror, but on second thoughts settled on the wonderful new growth on Phyllostachys vivax 'Aureocaulis'. This bamboo has been with us for a number of years now, and in the last couple of years has started to send up some quite nice sized culms. Phyllostachys vivax 'Aureocaulis' has the most wonderful buttery yellow new canes. Like all Phyllostachys bamboos the vivax will spread and wander about eventually, but we keep a watch for new canes and remove the new shoots that emerge away from the clump, helping to keep the shape and prevent it from taking over. This approach should be adopted with all bamboo, by taking the time to maintain them, you avoid gardening nightmares!!

Brunnera is an easy plant to grow and is sometimes known as 'The False For-get-me-not'. We grow it for its unusual foliage in spring. During late Spring, Brunnera 'Jack Frost' is shows off with lots of small, blue flowers which look similar to forget-me-not flowers, hence the common name. The flowers are not really the main attraction for us, which is the lovely heart-shaped foliage silver-grey with pronounced dark green veins. Brunnera likes to be planted in a fairly moist and humus-rich soil, when it will spread and form quite reasonably sized clump.

Another interesting silver-leaved form of Brunnera is 'Mr Morse' which has white flowers rather than blue. Brunnera 'Betty Bowring' is floriferous and long-flowering. The bright white flowers make a dramatic contrast with the dark green foliage.

Live Outdoors garden at the 2012 RHS Hampton Court flower show. Step up through the lush planting to a raised deck, styled with comfortable furnishings and covered by a living pergola, which also functions as a planting channel, offering extra growing space, colour and design interest. The living wall located behind the cooking area provides vertical space for additional planting.

Inspiration comes from Garden House Design’s aim to create gardens for eating, cooking and socialising, with simple yet stunning planting. Live Outdoors shows that budget restrictions need not compromise great landscape design.